State to grade over 75,000 zilla parishad schools

In a bid to improve the quality of education in zilla parishad primary schools across the state, over 75,000 in all, the state government has decided to introduce grading in these schools.

In a bid to improve the quality of education in zilla parishad primary schools across the state, over 75,000 in all, the state government has decided to introduce grading in these schools.

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The schools, which cater to 1.5 crore students, will be divided into categories A, B, C and D according to the quality of education judged on the following parameters — management, teaching standard and infrastructure. It will be made compulsory for all schools to display their grades at the entrance of the schools.

“This was one of the recommendations given to us by the committee set up for studying improvement of the quality of education in zilla parishad schools. Since the grades will be on display, it will automatically encourage teachers and even villagers to improve their local schools,” said Jayant Patil, rural development minister.

Patil added that there a team of experts would be constituted that will visit every school and judge it on a score of 200. While 100 marks will be set aside for management and administration, 65 will be set aside for teaching standards and the remaining 35 for infrastructure.

The government will be instituting taluka, district and state-level awards for schools achieving high marks, where cash prizes ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 3 lakh will be given.

Apart from grading schools, Patil said that initiatives such as making computer usage compulsory for schools and teachers, and hiring 20% more teachers as compared to the current strength to fill in for those on leave, will be taken.